Howard earns Manning Award

Quarterback of the Week Honor

Howard

Press Release

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University senior quarterback Skyler Howard has been selected as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week, earning the honor over seven other Manning Award Stars of the Week in the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Facebook contest.

Howard completed 21-of-31 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing for 89 yards and two scores, as the Mountaineers remained undefeated with a 48-17 Big 12 road victory over Texas Tech. He tallied his third 300-yard passing performance of the season and sixth in his career on his way to being named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career.

West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen, appearing on ESPN’s Championship Drive podcast Wednesday, said his senior quarterback epitomizes why the No. 12 Mountaineers are 5-0. Howard, a Fort Worth native, walked on at Riverside (California) City College and came to West Virginia because it was the only offer he received.

“We took a chance on him,” Holgorsen said. “He came in and was excited about the Big 12 just because he could go back and try to do his best against all those teams that overlooked him. He wants to try to prove everybody wrong every single day he wakes up.”

Following the win over Texas Tech, the Mountaineers jumped eight spots to No. 12 in the AP poll and will be looking to break into the top ten as they as they welcome TCU (4-2) to Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday for a Big 12 matchup at 3:30 p.m. CT on ABC.

Howard’s top competition came from Idaho’s Matt Linehan and Quinton Flowers of USF. Linehan completed 29-of-36 passes for 476 yards with four touchdowns and also rushed for a score as the Vandals tallied a 55-23 victory over New Mexico State. Flowers completed 23-of-37 passes for 213 yards with two touchdowns, while also rushing for 157 yards and three touchdowns, in the Bulls 42-27 win over Connecticut in AAC action.